Finding the Truth Part 1

[Lil Wolf]

Lacy Lynn looked down at her paper and frowned. She’d been working on a term paper for nearly two hours and she didn’t have it right. “Why don’t you take a break and do it later.” Her friend, Kali suggested. “I can’t, Kali. I have to get this done tonight. It’s due tomorrow. If I stop now, I’ll forget all about it.” Lacy explained. Kali felt bad for her friend. Lacy had been bogged down with homework for the last few weeks. She hardly had time for anything else.

“Liz and I are going out tonight. Do you wanna come?” Kali asked. “I can’t.” Lacy insisted, so Kali gave up and called her friend Liz. “Is Lacy coming tonight?” Liz asked after they spoke a bit about their plans for the night. “No, she’s trying to finish her term paper.” Kali replied.

Later that night, Kali was ready to go out. She made the offer to Lacy one last time before she left, but Lacy refused. “If you get finished, just meet us. We’ll be at Jake’s.” Kali told her friend. Lacy promised she would and continued working on her term paper.

While Kali and Liz were out, they ran into their friend Jessie. “Hey, what’s up?” Jessie asked. “Nothing much, wanna hang out with us?” Liz asked. “Sure, why not. I think Angel is coming here too.” Jessie replied. The three girls sat together at a table and shared drinks while they talked. “Where’s Lacy?” Jessie asked. “She’s working on a term paper.” Kali explained. “Man, I am so glad I didn’t go to college.” Jessie remarked. “Yeah, but your brother was pissed about that, wasn’t he?” Liz asked. “Of course he was. He went to college, so he thinks I should too.” Jessie replied.

Angel showed up a short time later and she had Brooklyn with her. “Hi girls, what’s going on?” Angel asked. “Nothing much, have a seat.” Liz replied. The group of girls hunt out all night together, having drinks and playing pool, while talking about things most girls talked about, including men and love.

Jessie and Brooke were the only two of the group that were involved with anyone, so they often gave the others pointers about dating. “Well, you know I’m in no rush to find a man.” Kali said. “Yeah, neither is Lacy.” Liz retorted. “She’s too busy.” Angel remarked. “What about you?” Jessie asked. Angel shrugged. “Dad, doesn’t want me getting involved with anyone right now.” She admitted. “Geez, he should let up a little.” Brooke said. “Yeah, but I’m not really interested in finding a man either.” Angel said.

“How is Bill?” Kali asked Brooke. “He’s great. I just saw him yesterday.” Brooke said. Brooke had met and started dating Bill Goldberg, a man who worked for World Championship Wrestling. She’d met him during an autograph session. Bill had pulled her aside to talk to her when he met her and the pair had hit it off. “How long’s it been now?” Liz asked. “Six months and he’s incredible.” Brooke replied.

Lacy finally finished her term paper, but she was too tired and stressed to go out, so she sat down on the couch and turned the television on. After flipping through the channels and finding nothing on, she went to bed. When Kali came home, she realized that her friend was already asleep. Glancing at the table, Kali saw the completed term paper and smiled. Lacy had gotten the paper finished after all.

Kali jumped when she heard the phone ring. She quickly answered it to avoid waking Lacy up. “Hey, what’s up?” Jessica asked. “Why are you calling? I just saw you.” Kali said. “Well, I got home and there’s a message from my brother. He’s throwing a party and he invited me and said that I could bring my friends.” Jessie explained. “That sounds like fun. When is it?” Kali asked. “Next weekend, but my brother is coming home in two days. He’ll be here for a week.” Jessie said. “Great, this will give Lacy a chance to meet him.” Kali remarked. “Yeah, I don’t think he’s met Liz either.” Jessie replied. “I’ll let Lacy know about the party tomorrow.” Kali promised before she ended the call.

Two days later, Jessie met her brother at the airport. Brooke and Angel were with her. “Hey, what’s up, sis?” Scott asked. “Nothing, how was the flight?” Jessie asked him. “Boring...” Kevin replied. Angel shrugged and smiled at him. “I’m taking you out tonight.” Scott told his sister. “Sure, can Angel come?” Jessie asked. “Yeah, but what about you?” Kevin asked Brooke. “Bill’s flying in tonight. I have to pick him up at eight.” Brooke explained.

Later that night, Scott took Jessie and Angel out, while Kevin went with Brooke to meet Bill at the airport. “Hey what’s up, Nash?” Bill asked as he greeted his girlfriend with a kiss. The trio left the airport and went to Kevin’s house for a while, before Brooke and Bill went back to his place. Scott took Jessie and Angel to a bar, his treat of course, and spent the night entertaining them with amusing stories. “So, where’s Kali?” Scott asked. “She’s hanging in tonight with another friend of ours.” Jessie said. “Oh, you made more friends while I was away?” Scott asked. Jessie shrugged and smiled at her brother. “You’ll meet them at the party.” She promised.

“How’s Brad?” Scott asked. Jessie shrugged again. “He’s okay. We haven’t been talking as much as we used to.” She admitted. “I think they’re breaking up.” Angel added. “Why?” Scott asked. “Well, I’m busy working and he’s busy working and we just don’t have time for each other now.” Jessie admitted.

“Please, let’s go out.” Kali said. “Go ahead.” Lacy insisted. “I have to get this work done.” Kali frowned at her friend. Lacy didn’t know when to take a break. She was always busy with schoolwork. “You need a break.” Kali tried to argue, but Lacy tuned her out. She was getting straight A’s in her classes and she wanted to keep it that way. “You should give this up and start modeling again.” Kali suggested. Lacy stopped what she was doing. “I’ve thought about it.” She admitted. “You should. You’ve definitely got a body for it. You’ve already been on the cover of Glamour, so that’s saying a lot.” Kali commented. Lacy considered it for a moment before picking up where she left off.

Bill and Brooke spent the night cuddling even though they saw one another a few days ago. “Scott’s having a big party at his house this weekend.” Brooke told her boyfriend. “Yeah, he already invited me. He’s got a bunch of guys coming.” Bill admitted. “Like who?” Brooke asked. Bill named all of the people Scott had mentioned. “Wow, this is going to be a big party.” She commented. “It should be fun.” Bill replied.

Lacy checked her watch and sighed. It was already ten and she had just finished her work. She was exhausted and didn’t feel like doing anything, so she went to bed. Kali decided to do the same since it was too late to bother going out. Jessie called the following morning and mentioned the party again. “Lacy’s not going.” Kali said. “Why?” Jessie asked. “She’s got too much work to do.” Kali explained. Jessie sighed when she heard her friend. “We’ve got to get her out of the house.” She insisted. “Good luck. I’ve tried.” Kali said. “I know what to do.” Jessie remarked. She hung up and called her brother.

“What’s up?” Scott asked. “How do you get someone who is totally obsessed with work to take a night off?” Jessie asked. “Drag them out of the house and force them to have a good time.” Scott replied. Jessie heard her brother laughing and groaned. “I’m serious. I have this friend who’s in college and she won’t come out. She’s always doing some kind of schoolwork and she never takes a break.” Jessie explained. “Well, I don’t know, sis. Unless you do what I said, you’re outta luck.” Scott replied.

Lacy had considered getting back into modeling, so she went to Paradise Modeling Studio to speak to someone. When they looked over her portfolio, they were impressed. “We’d like to do a photo shoot with you.” Ron Heyman told her. “Really?” Lacy asked. “Yeah, you’ve got a nice portfolio here. And this picture on the cover of Glamour Magazine is amazing.” He replied. Lacy went to school the following morning and informed the dean that she would be transferring all of her earned credits to a massage therapy school. This was done in under two days, so Lacy started attending Martin’s School of Massage Therapy and met with Ron Heyman to do a photo shoot.

Kali was thrilled when she heard the news. She called Jessie and told her what Lacy had done. “Are you serious?” Jessie asked. “Yeah, so I might be able to convince her to come to the party after all.” Kali replied. That weekend, Kali mentioned the party again to Lacy. “Well, I guess I can go. I finished the shoot, so I’m waiting for Ron to call. And I don’t have classes tomorrow, so I guess it wouldn’t hurt to have a little fun.” Lacy said.

Bill and Brooklyn were the first ones to show up at Scott’s house. Jessie arrived next with Angel and Brad. “That leaves Kali, Liz, and Lacy.” Angel said when she saw that her other friends weren’t there. “Well, Liz is coming with Kali and Lacy, I think.” Jessie said. Liz showed up fifteen minutes later. “Where are Kali and Lacy?” Jessie asked. “Well, they were on their way here, but Lacy got a call from Paradise. They wanted her to stop over and sign a contract first. I think she’s getting her photos back too, well some of them anyway.” Liz explained. “I can’t wait to see them.” Angel said. “See what?” Kevin asked. “Our friend Lacy is a model. She just had a photo shoot and she’s getting some of the pictures from the shoot back tonight.” Jessie explained. “She’s a model, huh?” Scott asked. “You are way too old, big brother, so don’t even go there.” Jessie remarked. “Hey, you’re never too old for anything.” Kevin retorted.

“Thanks for coming in, Lacy. This will only take a minute.” Ron said. Lacy reviewed the contract and signed it. Then she handed it over to Ron. “Here’s your copy of the photos we’re using. We’ll call you as soon as we set something up.” Ron promised. Lacy thanked him and left with Kali. “Let’s see.” Kali said when they got in the car. Lacy handed her the pictures and waited for her reaction. “Lacy, these are incredible. Wow, they had you pose in lingerie?” Kali asked. “Well, they said they were thinking about having me try out for a clothing line.” Lacy explained. “Like a spokes model?” Kali asked. “Yeah, something like that. And they figured lingerie was the way to go because of my shape.” Lacy admitted.

When they pulled up in front of Scott Hall’s house, Kali parked the car and grabbed the pictures. “What are you doing?” Lacy asked. “You have to show these to the others. I know they’ll want to see them.” Kali said. She shut the door before Lacy could argue. “Kali…” Lacy called as she closed the car door. “Kali, wait…” Lacy called, but Kali went up and knocked on the door. Lacy ran after her, hoping to get the pictures, but Angel opened the door and grabbed them. “Are these the pictures? Oh, let’s see.” She said. Jessie, Brooke, and Liz rushed over to her and looked over her shoulder. “Wow.” Brooke said. “These are great, Lacy.” Jessie said. Scott and Kevin came up behind Jessica and looked over shoulder. When Scott saw who was in the photograph, he looked at Lacy.

Lacy stopped in the doorway when she saw Scott. Kevin looked over at Lacy and realized why Scott had been surprised. “What’s wrong?” Kali asked when she saw that Lacy hadn’t come in. “I have to go.” She said. She grabbed the pictures and went outside. Scott went after her. “Did I miss something?” Jessie asked. “Yeah, you sure did.” Kevin said. “What’s going on?” Angel asked. “Well…Scott and Lacy know each other.” Kevin admitted. “How?” Liz asked. “They used to date.” Kevin explained. “Oh man, I had no idea.” Jessie mumbled. “Don’t worry about it. It’s not your fault.” Kevin told her. “Well, what happened to them?” Kali asked. “She left him because one of the guys who hung around at the time told her that Scott had cheated on her. He didn’t, but she told him to prove it and he couldn’t. Lacy was angry with him and Scott got pissed off and went after the guy who’d told her that. She was there the night Scott beat him up and he did a real number on the guy.” Kevin said. “Woah, my brother never told me that.” Jessie said. “Yeah, he didn’t want to talk about it.” Kevin replied.

“Hey.” Scott called. Lacy stopped walking and turned around. “What do you want?” She asked. “You never gave me a chance.” Scott said. “I didn’t want to. I heard what I heard and I saw what I saw. That was enough for me.” Lacy retorted. “Didn’t you care what that did to me?” Scott asked. “Frankly, no…you cheated on me.” She said. “I never cheated on you. “d**nit, Kevin told you that. You wouldn’t listen.” Scott argued. “I’m not having this conversation.” Lacy said. She turned to leave, but he grabbed her arm. “Get off of me.” She shouted. “No, you listen to me for a change.” He demanded.

Lacy put her other hand up to slap him, but Scott grabbed her wrist. “Just hear me out.” He said. “Fine, you’ve got one minute.” Lacy snapped. “I know that I beat that guy bad, but I was mad. You wouldn’t believe me. You let some punk come between us. Then you disappeared. I tried to find you, but I couldn’t. And now you’re doing it again.” Scott said. “We’re not together.” Lacy reminded him. “I know, but we can be. We could try again. I’ve missed you.” Scott said. “Get off of me. Your minute is up. And if you don’t let go of me right now, I’ll hurt you.” Lacy threatened him. Scott smirked as he let go of her. She obviously wasn’t intimidated by him, but he wasn’t intimidated by her either. Kali ran out to calm her friend down, but Lacy insisted on leaving, so Kali handed her the keys and watched her go.

Kevin walked over to where his friend was standing. “Are you okay, man?” He asked. “I can’t believe it. After two years, she still thinks I cheated on her.” Scott said. “Well, I don’t know what you can do about that. She obviously doesn’t want to fix this.” Kevin commented. Scott shook his head and went back inside. Kali called Lacy an hour later and asked her to come back. “I’m not hanging out with him.” Lacy snapped. “Look, Scott said he’ll leave you alone. Please come back.” Kali pleaded. Lacy finally agreed to come back to the party, but she ignored Scott.

Lacy noticed that Scott still had his macho attitude. She’d admired that about him until he nearly killed their friend. She’d watched in horror as Scott beat him senseless for supposedly lying about something that she knew had been true. “You know, my brother has never cheated on a woman before.” Jessie said. “Well, you obviously don’t know him as well as you think, because he cheated on me.” Lacy retorted. “Maybe that guy really was lying.” Angel suggested. “I doubt it. He was Scott’s friend. Why would he lie about something like that?” Lacy asked. “Because he wanted you for himself?” Kali suggested. “What is this, gang up on Lacy time?” Lacy asked. “No, forget it. Let’s just have fun.” Jessie replied.

Scott had invited quite a few people to the party, so there were a lot of people his sister didn’t know. One guy that Scott and Kevin had met while they were working had come and he seemed to be interested in Lacy. Jessie noticed her brother watching the guy and wondered if there would be trouble. “So, you’re a masseuse?” Derek asked. “Training to be a masseuse.” Lacy corrected him. “Well, I’d love to find out how good you are.” Derek said. “You might not wanna do that.” Jessie commented. Lacy gave her friend and odd look. She hadn’t been paying any attention to Scott, so she didn’t know that he was watching Derek at the moment.

“Lacy is a model too.” Angel said. “Oh? What kind of modeling do you do?” Derek asked. “Anything, you name it, I’ve done it.” Lacy retorted. “Playboy?” Derek asked. “Well, everything except for that. I just started modeling again, but when I was doing it before, my boyfriend at the time didn’t want me doing that. I did get an offer though.” Lacy said. Her friends knew now that she was talking about Scott, even if she didn’t say it.

The party started to wind down a few hours later and Lacy had made herself very comfortable with Derek. Scott hadn’t taken his eyes off of them. Kevin knew that his friend was irritated with Derek. He warned Scott not to start a fight, but he knew Scott would start something if Derek tried anything with Lacy. It might’ve been two years since they saw one another, but Scott hadn’t forgotten her or what they’d shared in the past. When Scott saw Derek stand up, he sat up and waited to see what the man did.

Derek took Lacy’s hand and led her towards the door. Scott watched her saying goodbye to people as she walked to the door. He realized that Lacy was planning to leave with Derek. Kevin saw his friend stand up. He groaned as he watched Scott make his way over to Lacy.

“Hey.” Scott said, getting Derek’s attention. “What’s up, man?” Derek asked. “Where do you think you’re going with her?” Scott asked. Lacy rolled her eyes when she heard him. “Excuse me?” Derek asked. “You heard me.” Scott retorted. “Is there a problem?” Derek asked. Scott shoved the man a little and pushed Lacy out of the way. “Scott, knock it off.” Lacy snapped. “Yeah, there’s a problem.” Scott said. Derek was confused and Lacy was annoyed. “Do you mind?” She asked, stepping in front of Scott to get him away from Derek.

“You left me two years ago for the wrong reason. Now you’re gonna walk out of here with my friend.” Scott accused. “Get over it.” Lacy snapped. “No, you get over it. That punk was lying.” Scott argued. “What is going on here?” Derek asked. “I think I can explain.” Jessie said. “You see, my brother and Lacy apparently had a thing two years ago, but some guy told Lacy that my brother cheated on her, so she left him and then he beat the guy up while Lacy watched it. Now Scott wants her back, but she still believes that he cheated on her.” She explained. Derek suddenly realized what was going on. “We were over two years ago.” Lacy said to Scott. “We don’t have to be over. I know you still want me.” He insisted. Lacy laughed when she heard that.

“Scotty, let it go.” Kevin urged his friend, but Scott refused to let her leave with Derek. “Fine, I’ll leave on my own.” Lacy snapped, but Derek came to her defense. When Scott heard him, he started fighting with him and ended up knocking a few people over in the process. Jessie was one of them. Lacy started screaming at Scott, but he wasn’t listening to her. Kevin grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the fight so she wouldn’t get hurt. “Get off of me.” Lacy shouted. “I didn’t want you to get hurt.” Kevin explained.

Jessie started yelling at her brother, but Scott ignored her too. He punched Derek in the face a few times, but Derek got a few good punches in too. “Get out of my house before I kill you.” Scott shouted. Lacy heard that and rushed over to Scott. “Please, don’t.” She pleaded with him. She grabbed his arm and pulled him away from Derek. Scott looked down at her for a second, but he turned his attention back to Derek. “Get out, now.” He said. Derek left, slamming the door behind him.

Scott looked down at Lacy again and realized that he’d scared her. “I wasn’t really going to kill him.” He said. “You almost killed John.” Lacy reminded him. “This was different.” He insisted. “I have to go.” Lacy told him. She started for the door, but Scott stopped her. “Wait. Just talk to me, please.” He said. “About what, I told you that there is no us now.” She argued. “Yeah, but there can be. If you’d just believe that I never cheated on you, we can work this out.” Scott insisted. “It’s been two years.” Lacy said. “And I still want you.” Scott replied. Lacy saw everyone watching her. She felt uncomfortable having an audience. “No.” She said. Then she walked out the door. Kali apologized and followed her friend since they’d come to the party together

[Lil Wolf]

Jessie felt bad for her brother. She could tell that he loved Lacy and it was her fault that Scott had seen her. “I’m sorry, Scotty. If I had known, I wouldn’t have invited her over.” Jessie said. “Don’t worry about it, sis. It’s not your fault.” Scott assured her, but Jessie wasn’t convinced. She decided to talk to Lacy about her brother.

“Would you calm down?” Kali asked as Lacy stormed into their apartment. “No. I can’t believe he did that to me.” Lacy snapped. “Well, he obviously still loves you.” Kali commented. Lacy laughed when she heard her friend. “Yeah, he loves owning me.” She retorted. “What’s he possessive or something?” Kali asked. “Yeah, he was. I couldn’t do anything without him knowing about it. I was fine with it, but when I found out that he cheated, I was mad. I wasn’t going to take that from him.” Lacy said. “Maybe he didn’t cheat on you.” Kali suggested. “Yeah right, well he couldn’t prove it, so I’ll assume that he did.” Lacy retorted.

Kali realized that the only thing keeping Lacy and Scott apart was this rumor. She wondered if there was a way she could prove that Scott hadn’t cheated on her friend. She decided to call Jessie to get some more information. When Jessie learned what Kali wanted to do, she thought it was a good idea and promised to talk to Kevin. “I’ll call you back in a few.” Jessie said.

“Hey Kev, can I talk to you?” Jessie asked. “Sure, what’s up?” Kevin asked. “Do you remember the name of the guy who told Lacy that lie?” Jessie asked. “Yeah, his name was John Rennard. We all called him Renny for short.” Kevin replied. “Know where I could find him?” Jessie asked. “What are you up to?” Kevin countered. “Please just trust me.” Jessie said. “Don’t meddle. You’ll make things worse.” Kevin warned her. “Please Kev, I know I can fix this for my brother and for my friend.” Jessie said. “No, forget it. Keep out of this. You don’t know the whole story.” Kevin insisted. Jessie gave up, but she called Kali and told her the guy’s name. “I’ll find him online. We’ll go and talk to him.” Kali said.

Kali searched for John Rennard online and found him a half hour later. She wrote his address down and called Jessie. “Okay, we’ll go tomorrow.” Jessie said. She and Kali met outside of John’s house the following afternoon. “Are you sure you wanna do this?” Jessie asked. “Yeah, we have to. We have to find out what really happened two years ago.” Kali insisted. When they knocked, a big guy with dark hair answered. “Yeah?” He asked. “Are you John Rennard?”? Jessie asked. “Yeah, who are you?” He asked.

Kali explained that she was friends with Lacy Lynn. “Do you remember her?” Jessie asked. “Sure, how is she?” John asked them. “Great, actually…I’d like to talk to you about her.” Kali said. He let them in and closed the door. “Look, we know about what happened two years ago.” Kali said. “Oh yeah, what a mess…” John said. “Can you tell us the details? Lacy doesn’t really want to talk about it, but we know it bothers her.” Jessie said.

“Well, we were at a party one night. Scotty, that’s Lacy’s old boyfriend…he was drinking a lot and he had gone on about this chick that he met. Her name was Marie Swetler. He was talking about how she’d thrown herself at him and how he was good at pleasing women. His friend Kevin thought it was funny, but I was mad because I like Lacy Lynn and I knew she’d be hurt if she heard him. So I went over to her and I told her what was going on.” John explained.

“That’s it? You mean you weren’t absolutely sure that Scott was cheating on her?” Kali asked. “Well, no. I just assumed. I mean, it sure sounded that way.” John said. “Well, how did Scott know this girl Marie?” Jessie asked. “I think this guy Tom introduced them. I’d met Marie a few times, but I’d never talked to her, so I didn’t know her that well.” John admitted. “Do you know where we could find Marie?” Kali asked. “Sure, but why?” Brian asked. “Well, we wanna understand what happened so we can help Lacy get past it.” Jessie said. John gave them Marie’s address and walked them out. “Tell Lacy I said hello.” John said.

After Jessie and Kali got into the car, Jessie opened her purse. “Play it back.” Kali said. When Jessie did, they had their entire conversation with John on tape. “Now, let’s go pay a visit to Marie.” Jessie said. Twenty minutes later, they parked in front of a small duplex. They got out and rang the bell to apartment number two. A young woman answered and asked them what they wanted. “We wanted to talk to you about a guy named Scott Hall.” Jessie said. “What about him?” Marie asked. “Well, we heard this rumor that Scott had cheated on his old girlfriend with you. We were trying to find out of there was any truth to that.” Kali explained. “Come on in.” Marie said.

Five minutes later, Kali and Jessie were sitting comfortably on Marie’s couch. “So, is there any truth to the rumor?” Jessie asked. “Well, first off, I met Scott through this guy named Tom. Now, Tom told me that he was interested in this girl Lacy Lynn, so I offered to give him some advice on dating since I’d been in a few relationships. Tom told me that he wanted me to meet Scott. I had no idea who this guy was at the time, but when I met him, I decided that I didn’t like his attitude. He was too macho for me. I had no idea that he had a girlfriend and he didn’t mention that he had one. Tom was there when I met Scott and he had said something about having something to do.” Marie explained.

“So, this guy Tom wanted to meet Lacy or he wanted to hook up with her?” Jessie asked. “He wanted to hook up with her. He said that he’d met her through a friend, but he didn’t say who. When I mentioned this to Scott, he seemed to get angry. I don’t know why I brought it up, but I did. He and I got to talking and he turned out to be a really funny guy. He had me laughing all night.” Marie said. “But, did anything happen between the two of you?” Kali asked. “Hang on. I’m getting to that.” Marie said. “I also met Scott’s friend Kevin. He seemed nice enough, but he was a little more outgoing than Scott was. He started flirting with me and I wondered if Tom hadn’t made some sort of mistake. I thought that Tom had introduced me to Scott so that we could hook up, but Scott didn’t appear to be interested. Kevin was though, so we had a little fun that night. By this time, Tom had already gone somewhere, but he was my ride home, so I ended up waiting around for a while.” Marie continued.

“Then what happened?” Kali asked. “Well, Tom called me and said that he’d gotten into an argument with a friend. He asked if I could find another way home. I did, but when I got home, I had this message on my machine from John. He said something about this girl Lacy Lynn being angry because Scott had done something with me. I realized that the whole thing had gotten mixed up. I tried to call John, but I couldn’t reach him, so I called Scott to tell him about the message. Scott apparently had already heard about all of this, because he was arguing with this girl Lacy Lynn and she had somehow found out that I was on the phone with Scott.” Marie said.

“So you never did anything with Scott?” Jessie asked. “No, but I couldn’t find Tom. He was the one who apparently started all this nonsense. I never had a chance to tell Scott that because he was too busy arguing with his girlfriend. I found out later that he’d blamed Brian for this and the two had fought. I decided to stay out of it.” Marie replied. “Do you know where we can find Tom?” Jessie asked. “Well no, but his name is Tom Riker. Maybe that’ll help.” Marie answered.

Kali and Jessie thanked her and left to go back to Kali’s apartment. “Lacy, you have to listen to this.” Kali said. “To what?” Lacy asked. Kali set the tape recorder on her table and pushed play. Lacy listened to John talking and then she heard Marie’s voice. “Tom as in Tom Mitchell?” Lacy asked. “No, his name was Tom Riker, but did you argue with someone named Tom that night?” Kali asked. Lacy thought back two years ago and remembered the night she and Scott had argued. “No.” Lacy said. “Well, we have to find out where Tom is. I’ll bet he can sort this mess out.” Jessie said. “Yeah, but how do we do that?” Lacy asked. “Well, Tom was at Scott’s that night, so maybe Scott knows who he is.” Jessie suggested. “I’m not going over there.” Lacy argued. “Come on, if he didn’t cheat on you, then there’s no reason for you to be angry at him.” Kali argued. Lacy knew that her friend had a point.

When they got to Scott’s house, Jessie played the tape for her brother. “I told you not to meddle.” Kevin said. Scott appeared angry and Lacy wasn’t sure why. “Who is Tom?” Kali asked. “Kev, I just wanted to fix this.” Jessie insisted. “Look, I know who Tom is.” Kevin said. Scott looked up at his friend. “Mind telling me?” He asked. “Scotty, forget it. Lacy, you know he didn’t cheat on you now, so just forget about all of this.” Kevin said. “Why won’t you tell me who it is?” Scott asked. Kevin thought back to the night he’d met Marie. He had met Tom too. And he’d found out what Tom was up to, but Lacy didn’t know that he knew about it and she obviously didn’t remember, so he didn’t want to bring it up.

“Come on, who is it?” Kali asked. “That was a long time ago. There’s no reason to bring up bad memories.” Kevin insisted. “Do I know him?” Scott asked. “Yeah, but that’s not the problem.” Kevin said. “Then what is it?” Jessie demanded. “I guess you’ve forgotten about this or maybe you blocked it out, Lacy Lynn.” Kevin commented. “Huh?” Lacy asked. “Tom came to my house the night we were all together. You weren’t around. I think you’d gone home to study or something but you said you were coming back.” Kevin explained. “Yeah, I remember that.” Lacy said. “Well, Tom brought Marie around and she thought she was supposed to hook up with Scott. I think Tom intended to do that, but Scott wasn’t interested, so I ended up spending a little time with her. Tom left and Marie had to wait for him to come back because he had given her a ride to my house.” Kevin said. “He called her a while later and told her he’d been arguing with someone.” He continued.

Suddenly Lacy’s mouth fell open. Kevin knew that she remembered what happened now. “What’s wrong with you?” Kali asked. “I remember. Oh my gosh, how could I forget?” She asked. “Remember what?” Scott asked, confused. “I know who Tom is.” Lacy said. “Who is he?” Scott demanded. “You know what, Kevin’s right. Let’s just forget about this.” Lacy said. “I want to know what happened that night.” Scott insisted. “Just let it go, Scotty.” Kevin said. Scott was determined to find out what happened though and Jessie and Kali wanted to know too. “His name is Tom Riker.” Jessie said, hoping her brother might remember who he was.

Scott heard the name and looked at Kevin. “Tom Riker has something to do with all of this?” He asked. “I have to go.” Lacy said, realizing that everything was about to come out. Scott grabbed her arm to stop her. “What did Tom do to you?” He asked. Lacy refused to answer him though. “Fine, I’ll go and talk to Tom myself.” Scott said. “You know where he is?” Jessie asked. “Yeah, I just talked to him a few weeks ago.” Scott admitted. He left the house before Kevin or Lacy could stop him. Lacy ran after him and grabbed his hand. “Don’t.” She said. “Let go.” Scott insisted. Lacy let go and watched him get in his car.

Fifteen minutes later, Scott returned and he had Tom Riker with him. “What’s going on?” Tom asked. “Do you remember two years ago when I had that party? You dropped Marie off here and left.” Scott said. Tom nodded and realized what was going on. “Look…” He began. “What did you do to Lacy?” Scott asked. “I didn’t do anything.” Tom insisted. “You’re lying.” Scott retorted. “And I want to know what happened right now.” He shouted. Lacy jumped when she heard him yell like that. “Scott, stop it.” She cried. “No, somebody tell me what the hell is going on right now.” Scott shouted.

Lacy backed away when she saw how angry Scott was getting. Kevin stepped between Tom and Scott to prevent them from going at it right in Scott’s living room. “Listen, I’ll explain. It was a long time ago and I’m sorry for what I did.” Tom said. “You see…I met Lacy before your party and I don’t know…I had it in my head that I had to meet her. I liked her…you know…so I told Marie that I would introduce her to you.” Tom said. “You wanted my girlfriend, so you introduced me to Marie?” Scott demanded. “Yeah, well…anyway…I brought Marie to your house to meet you. While she was here, I went to see Lacy. I told her that I was at your party and that you’d been messing around with Marie. Lacy accused me of lying, but I insisted that it was true.” Tom explained.

“And…” Jessie asked, wanting to hear more. “Well, I convinced Lacy that I was telling the truth and offered to take her out because she was upset. We went to this little diner and got something to eat. Then I took her back to her place and I kissed her. At first, she seemed okay with it, but some chick showed up at the front door and asked Lacy why she wasn’t at your party. Lacy told her what I’d said and the girl told Lacy that it was a lie. She assured Lacy that nothing was going on because she’d just left your house.” Tom said.

“But Lacy still thought I cheated on her.” Scott said. “Yeah, because I got a friend of mine to go to your house and check it out…he came back and told Lacy that you had been talking to Marie, so Lacy immediately thought that something was going on, but she got angry with me because she was sure that I’d lied to her in the first place. We started arguing and I left.” Tom said. “Is that all?” Kali asked. “Yeah, that’s it.” Tom said. “Feel better?” Kevin asked Scott. “Yeah…” Scott admitted. Kevin moved from between the two men because he thought everything was okay, but as soon as he did, Scott punched Tom in the face. The two men started fighting and Lacy started screaming at them.

Kevin tried to pull them apart, but Scott was relentless. He wanted to hurt Tom for the trouble he’d caused. “Please, stop.” Lacy shouted. Scott heard her and stopped fighting with Tom. “I’m sorry.” Lacy said. “You never told me. You never gave me a chance to explain anything.” Scott accused. Lacy knew that he was right and she felt bad now that she knew the truth. Scott kicked Tom out and went up to his room. “You should’ve left this alone.” Kevin told Jessie. “I just wanted to help.” She insisted. “He’s mad all over again and who knows how long it’ll take him to get over it this time.” Kevin said. He went upstairs to try to talk to his friend, while Lacy, Kali, and Jessie talked.

“I’m going home.” Lacy said. “What about my brother?” Jessie asked. “As you can see, he wants nothing to do with me.” Lacy replied. She turned and left the house before Kali and Jessie could stop her. “Maybe we should’ve left this alone.” Kali commented. “My brother will get over it. But I don’t know if Lacy will. I think she was upset because she’d been wrong. And she was the one to leave my brother.” Jessie replied.

“Are you okay?” Kevin asked his friend. “Yeah, I’m just mad. I’ll cool off in a while.” Scott replied. “So, are you gonna fix things with Lacy?” Kevin asked. Scott shrugged. He didn’t know what he wanted to do now. He was hurt that Lacy hadn’t told him about Tom, but he knew he couldn’t really blame her for this.

[Lil Wolf]

Lacy went home and found a message from her new agent on her machine. She called Gary to find out what he wanted. “Paradise called. They’ve got a job for you and it’s a good one.” Gary said. “What is it?” Lacy asked. “You’re going to be the new Victoria’s Secret spokes model.” Gary told her. Lacy couldn’t believe it. Victoria’s Secret was a huge company that was known worldwide. “This is great. When do I meet with them?” She asked. “Tomorrow morning. We have to be at their Fort Lauderdale office at nine in the morning.” Gary informed her. “Great, I’ll meet you there.” Lacy promised.

When Kali came home, Lacy told her about the phone call. “Lacy, that’s incredible. I am so happy for you.” Kali exclaimed. “So, how’s Scott?” Lacy asked. “I don’t know. He was upstairs in his room when I left.” Kali admitted. Lacy tried not to think about Scott for the rest of the night. Instead, she thought about her meeting with the people from Victoria’s Secret.

In the morning, Lacy prepared for her meeting. She left the house at eight and arrived in Fort Lauderdale at eight forty-five. When she pulled up in front of the Victoria’s Secret Office, Gary was waiting for her. “Great, you’re right on time…let’s get in there.” Gary told her. He grabbed her hand and led her inside. “Hi, we’re here to see Dan Blaisey.” Gary said. “One moment, please.” Came the reply. Lacy sat down and waited for the secretary to let Dan know that they had arrived. “Are you nervous?” Gary asked. “Not at all. I know I’ll be great at this, so I have no reason to be nervous.” Lacy replied.

Lacy met with Dan and discussed how things would go. They set up an appointment to do her first photo shoot. Then he set up another appointment for her to do a television commercial. Lacy went home feeling like she was on cloud nine. She hadn’t heard from Scott, but she didn’t expect to either. It had been two years, so as far as she was concerned, they were over.

A week later, Lacy met with Dan again. She did the photo shoot which took about three hours. The following day, they filmed the commercial. Lacy was pleased with the results of both. Two days before the commercial was set to air on television, Lacy was sitting at home going through some old proofs. Kali had gone out with Angel and Liz, so Lacy was alone. She had just finished going through the third set of proofs when she heard someone knocking on the door. When she opened it and saw Scott standing there, she didn’t smile. “What do you want?” She asked. “Can I come in?” He asked. Lacy shrugged and let him pass.

“So, what do you want?” She asked again after she closed the door. “I wanted to talk to you about what happened at my house.” Scott admitted. “What’s there to talk about? I think we’ve said it all.” Lacy commented. “Really, because I think we have a lot to discuss. We never settled this. I told you that I wanted you back. I know you want it too. I know it’s been two years, but nothing’s changed. You know that I never cheated on you, so what’s stopping you now?” Scott asked. Lacy thought about it, but she didn’t really have an answer.

Scott noticed the proofs sitting on her desk. He picked them up and looked them over. “Nice.” He commented. “Thanks, but they’re old.” Lacy said as she took them from him. “Mind if I see more?” He asked. She shrugged and watched him go through the pile of pictures. “Are you ever gonna do playboy?” He asked. “I don’t know. I haven’t had an offer, but I may get one now. I just became the new spokes model for Victoria’s Secret.” Lacy admitted. “Wow, really?” Scott asked. “Yeah, I was a little surprised myself, but I’ve already done a photo shoot and a commercial. It’s going to air on television in two days.” Lacy replied.

Scott set the proofs down and looked up at Lacy. “So, are you going to tell me why we can’t give this another go?” He asked. When she didn’t answer, he smirked. It was his usual thingyy smirk, the one Lacy admired. She didn’t smile though. She was still trying to figure out why giving it another go would be a bad idea. She was having a very hard time coming up with any excuses. “If you hadn’t thought that I cheated on you, do you think we’d still be together?” Scott asked. “Yeah, I don’t see why not.” Lacy said. “So, what’s stopping you then? I know you want me. I can see it in your eyes.” He told her.

“What if I said no?” Lacy asked. “What if I won’t take no for an answer?” Scott countered. “You don’t have a choice here.” Lacy retorted. “Sure I do.” Scott insisted. “I’m not giving you a choice.” She said. “Well, then I’m not giving you a choice.” Scott argued. He moved closer to her and Lacy found herself backing away from him. “Come on, we were good together. You know we were.” He told her. “Maybe, but that was two years ago.” Lacy reminded him. “Nothing’s changed.” Scott insisted as he moved even closer to her. Lacy backed up against the wall and Scott took advantage of this. He put both of his hands on the wall so that she couldn’t escape. “I want you and you want me, so let’s stop fooling around and get it on.” Scott said. Before she could answer, he leaned down and kissed her roughly on the mouth, eliciting a moan from her. That was all he needed to hear.

Even after two years, Lacy found herself giving into the man. He had a way of taking control. This she knew and she also knew that fighting him would be useless. She wanted him as much as he wanted her and she knew this. They never broke the kiss as they made their way to the couch. It had been two years and they were both eager to pick up where they’d left off. Thankfully, Kali didn’t come home until after they’d fallen asleep. When she saw Scott on the couch with Lacy, she smiled to herself. She was happy that her friend had gotten what she wanted. This, she decided, was definitely what Lacy needed to loosen up.

After Lacy and Scott rekindled the fire that once burned between them, things went smoothly for a while, but Lacy had been keeping a little secret, one that she knew would set Scott off. She continued to hang around with Jessie, Angel, Liz, and Kali like she’d always done. They went out occasionally, but not before mentioning where they were going. One night in particular, Lacy came to pick Jessie up. She saw Scott standing on the front lawn talking to Sean, so she got out of the car.

“Hey baby.” He said when she walked over to him. He greeted her with a kiss and told her that Jessie would be down in a minute. “Where are you going tonight?” He asked. “Hi Sean…nowhere special….” Lacy said. He smiled and said hello politely. “Well, I’d like to know where you are in case I need to reach you.” Scott insisted. “Didn’t you ask your sister? It was her idea to go out tonight.” Lacy remarked. Jessie came bounding down the front steps looking magnificent. Scott turned to his sister and asked where they were going. “To a club or something, Scotty…relax, I’m not taking your girl out to find a man.” Jessie said. Lacy smirked and Sean laughed, but Scott wasn’t amused.

“Come over tonight.” He said to Lacy. She smiled as she kissed his lips tenderly. “I’ll come home with Jess.” She promised. “And don’t be too late.” He called as they walked to Lacy’s car. “Okay, daddy…” Jessie returned. Sean laughed again, but Scott warned her not to be too late. “d**n, what’s up with him?” Jessie asked. Lacy shrugged. He used to be like this. He’s totally obsessive and overprotective. He was always like that. I don’t mind it much, but it does get on my nerves at times.” Lacy replied.

The girls picked up Kevin’s sister Nikki and then they picked up Angel. Kali and Liz had other plans and Brooklyn was hanging out with her boyfriend Bill. “So, where to?” Lacy asked. “We’re going to the Cave.” Nikki said. “Isn’t that a male strip club?” Lacy asked. “Yep, the best one in the city.” Jessie retorted. Lacy knew that Scott wouldn’t want her going to a strip club, but she figured he wouldn’t find out about it, so she decided that it was okay to go.

When they got inside, they took a table near the front of the room and watched the men dancing on stage. “This is incredible.” Lacy remarked. “You mean, you’ve never been here?” Jessie asked. “Yeah right. Do you really think I’m stupid enough to come to a place like this with the way your brother is?” Lacy countered. “Good point.” Nikki said. “Excellent.” Jessie agreed. “Now, let’s pay close attention to the hunks.” She added.

Scott hung out with Kevin and Sean most of the night. “Do you know where Lacy was going with Jessie?” He asked. “Lacy went with Jessie and Nikki?” Kevin countered. Nikki hadn’t told him that Lacy was going. He’d have warned his sister if he’d known that. “Yeah, why?” Scott asked. “Well, I didn’t know that she was going out with Nikki and Jessie. Nikki never said anything to me about Lacy.” Kevin admitted. “And that means what?” Scott asked. “Nothing.” Kevin said, but he’d gotten Scott’s attention. “Where did they go?” Scott asked. “Don’t get all worked up.” Kevin tried to calm his friend down. “Where?” Scott demanded. “They went to the Cave.” Kevin muttered. “What?” Scott cried. “My girl is in a male strip joint?” He was shouting now and Kevin knew that he was angry. “Look, you know she won’t cheat, so just chill out. He said.

Scott called Lacy’s cell phone and waited for her to answer, but she didn’t. Currently, she was watching her friend get a lap dance. Jessie was enjoying the show too and soon had a man putting on a show just for her too. Lacy suddenly felt uncomfortable when she saw another man coming towards her. She nearly fell out of her chair when she saw who it was. “Tom?” She asked. “Lacy Lynn, what a surprise.” He said. When he started giving her a lap dance, she tried to get up, but the way he was moving was making it near impossible.

She realized that Tom was doing much more than giving her a simple lap dance and what’s worse is, he was enjoying it too. If that wasn’t bad enough, Scott and Kevin entered the Cave and spotted Lacy trying to get out of her chair. When he saw who was with her, he went off. Kevin went after Scott as he charged at Tom. But Kevin wasn’t fast enough. Scott shoved the man to the floor and started punching him until Security came and pulled him off of Tom. Lacy was hysterical now because Scott was angrier than he’d ever been. She started screaming until she got his attention. “You’re leaving now.” He said. He grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the club. “Jess, let’s go.” Kevin said. “But…” Jessica started argue. “Now.” Kevin said. Jessica grumbled to herself as she and Nikki followed Kevin outside.

“What were you doing with that guy?” Scott demanded. “It’s not my fault.” Lacy insisted. “Fine, but don’t ever do this to me again.” He shouted. “You’re too obsessive.” Jessica remarked. “No, I’m not obsessive, I’m possessive. Do you know the truth now?” Scott asked Lacy. She nodded and took his hand. “Fine, then we won’t have this problem again.” He said as he led her to his car. “Let’s just go home.” Lacy replied.